President Donald Trump-Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman

There was a recent meeting between US President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Earlier in the year 2018, the Crown Prince had visited America. Also, till three years ago, America was openly reconsidering its relations with Saudi Arabia. President Joe Biden had talked about isolating Mohammed bin Salman globally.

This week, when the Saudi crown prince and crown prince visited the Oval Office, the atmosphere was completely different — President Donald Trump defended them so vehemently that when a reporter asked a question about the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Trump scolded the reporter, saying she was embarrassing our guest.

What did Saudi achieve?

Apart from these incidents in the Oval Office, the announcements made by the administration show how quickly Mohammed bin Salman’s image has improved in Washington. It also highlights how Trump wants to put the Khashoggi case behind him and strengthen ties with the country, which has promised to invest nearly $1 trillion in the US and which also has business ties to the Trump family.

America has been insisting for a long time that relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel should be normalized. But the Saudis’ biggest success was convincing Trump to waive a condition that Washington had long insisted on before finalizing major defense and trade deals with Saudi Arabia: full normalization with Israel.

Did not accept the condition of normalization with Israel

This change is a sharp contrast from last year, when the Biden administration said that any comprehensive US-Saudi agreement could move forward only if its three parts: bilateral defense and trade agreements, Saudi Arabia’s normalization with Israel, and ensuring Israel’s path to Palestinian statehood all move forward together. But Israel rejected the possibility of a Palestinian state and Saudi Arabia did not soften its position.

Now, the Trump administration has separated these parts, giving Saudi Arabia long-sought defense, economic and regional security privileges. Besides, it also did not have to accept the condition of normalizing relations with Israel.

F-35 fighter aircraft, strategic defense agreement

This week, the US declared Saudi Arabia a Major Non-NATO Ally, advanced plans for the sale of F-35 fighter jets that would be similar to Israel’s planes, and signed a new strategic defense agreement.

Sale of AI-advanced chips

In keeping with the Crown Prince’s special efforts to free Saudi Arabia’s economy from oil dependence, the two countries launched an AI cooperation framework, which includes approval of the sale of advanced chips to Saudi Arabia. Apart from this, an important mineral agreement was signed and the way to increase cooperation in nuclear energy was also opened.

Trump also fulfilled Mohammed bin Salman’s regional requests, such as agreeing to help end Sudan’s civil war. In the Oval Office, the Crown Prince described the new agreements as beneficial for both America and Saudi Arabia.

Mohammed bin Salman, sitting next to Trump in the Oval Office on Tuesday, said, today is a very important time in our history.